Which case had a more bad effect on modern boxing; Mayweather or Wilder?

A good deal of fighters, both American and non American, want to be like Mayweather.

I don't think anyone wants to be like Wilder.

One is one of the biggest factors regarding the current state of fighters. The other was just a crappy title holder.

 

Mayweather Jr.

Let me start by saying I think Mayweather is a superb boxer. He could teach a trigonometry class a thing or two about angles. He is so good defensively he can leave opponents dazed without even throwing a punch.

That being said Floyd never cared about his legacy more than he cared about Floyd. Floyd wasn’t a fighter, he was a businessman. Mayweather played a game of chess when it came to matchmaking and chose the path of least resistance.

He waited six years so that he could face a much less supersonic version of the Pacquiao who tore through Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.

The Oscar De La Hoya that Mayweather jr faced had lost two of his previous four contests. (one of the wins, against Felix Sturm, was widely disputed).

Cotto and Shane Mosley were also past their peaks when after years of trying when they finally stepped into the ring with Mayweather.

This was intentional, with the power and money behind him, Floyd could have made any fight he wanted at any time. Floyd didn’t unify more because he chose the path of least resistance towards his goals which were to make a ton of money and retire undefeated.

Floyd could have been the goat but chose not to be.

Mayweather's legacy is telling everyone that the zero in his loss column is the only thing that counts and it doesn't matter how you keep it. Use illegal IV's, catchweights, demand heavy control over glove sizes, ring dimensions, etc.

 

Neither one was a negative in the ring.
Mayweather's shoulder roll was it's true annoying but otherwise he was a superb boxer. You know, hit and not get hit.

Now outside the ring....that's another story.

Wilder was a ko machine early on and fun to watch. And having a US HW champ, no matter how flawed, was good for US boxing.

 

Mayweather might have been better than Manny and I give him full respect for his skills, but I will say that the boxing world would look totally different right now if fighters wanted to emulate Manny instead of Floyd.

 

Wilder at least gave you knockouts.

 

When the “Lance Armstrong” side of Mayweather comes out Mayweather will never be looked at or thought of the same ever again !

 

If it does, the handling of the T.U.E. approved THREE WEEKS after the fight by the NSAC needs to be investigated as well.

 

I fault the promoters & networks more then I do individual fighters TBH-
though the fighters are more influential to create an “effect”
However, it’s the position fighters are put in
That’s the main deciding factor in how they conduct their business & move to begin with.

 

Floyd not getting the loss or draw in JLC1 really messed up boxing for awhile

 

Mayweather actually beat very good fighters unlike Wilder...

 

First, Wilder's relevance is so far below mayweather's, that mayweather already takes the cake with any negative impact he had.

Secondly, the belated mayweather pacquiao fight being the highest grossing fight ever, probably making way more money than had they fought in their primes is the perfect blueprint for "let it marinate forever and still cash in later" or in effect "brand over performance", which is exactly what we are seeing now.

Now that was only the one fight. There were enough other points. You could argue he also made the blueprint for canelo with his career.


That being said, he was a fantastic fighter and I loved to watch him (not even just to see him lose as it was when I started to watch boxing and I wanted to implement his skills in my own boxing).

 

Which is probably why japan, australia and especially mexico have the highest percentages of exciting fighters. They have a different image they are chasing. A different culture.

 

And with that said, he still has a better resume than any fighter from the past 20 years